“We can’t have a democracy as we know it without a free press, and that’s why Poynter is so important.”

– Bob SchiefferFormer CBS News Anchor and Host of ‘Face the Nation’

The Poynter Institute is a global leader in journalism.

It is the world’s leading instructor, innovator, convener and resource for anyone who aspires to engage and inform citizens.

By supporting the Poynter Institute, you fortify journalism’s role in a free society. Poynter champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue and compelling journalism that helps citizens participate in healthy democracies. We prepare journalists worldwide to hold powerful people accountable and promote honest information in the marketplace of ideas.

Poynter is a thought leader

Poynter taps into the expertise and experience of media executives, journalists, technologists and academics to answer the biggest questions around the future of journalism and democracy.

Founded in 1975, Poynter is an inspirational place but also a practical one, connecting the varied crafts of journalism to its higher mission and purpose. From person-to-person coaching and intensive hands-on seminars to interactive online courses and media reporting, Poynter helps journalists sharpen skills and elevate storytelling throughout their careers.

We bring together Poynter faculty and industry experts to explore the intersection of journalism, technology and the public interest. Poynter specializes in:

Poynter teaches and inspires

For more than 40 years, Poynter has had one goal: to make journalism better. From personalized coaching and hands-on seminars, to interactive, online courses, Poynter teaching is designed to sharpen your skills, elevate your career and ignite your imagination. Led by our faculty and the industry’s brightest minds and most accomplished journalists and educators, the Poynter experience connects you with skilled teachers and with other students of the craft.

To that end, we teach those who manage, edit, produce, program, report, write, blog, photograph and design, whether they belong to news organizations or work as independent entrepreneurs. We teach those who teach, as well as students in middle school, high school and college—the journalists of tomorrow. And we teach members of the public, helping them better understand how journalism is produced and how to tell for themselves whether it’s credible.

We teach in seminar rooms on our main campus in St. Petersburg, Florida, and we teach in newsrooms and through events all over the world. (See a list of recent workshops.)

We teach online with our e-learning platform, News University, allowing those in search of training to choose from hundreds of self-directed courses, online group seminars, webinars, online chats, podcasts and video tutorials.

As public trust in the media dissipates, we are increasingly expanding our mission to reach out to communities and have conversations about finding the truth. We must be relevant to journalists and non-journalists alike and hold our staff and other media accountable.

Poynter programs like Community Conversations and our annual fundraising gala, the Bowtie Ball, create the opportunity to have thoughtful, civil discourse between journalists and their audiences. During these programs, business leaders, media executives, educators, journalists and citizens explore the issues surrounding journalism and the people who produce it. Speakers range from Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker talking about voters’ concerns, to PBS NewsHour anchor Hari Sreenivasan commenting on the future of business and the economy.

Our mission of stewarding journalism in our local community extends to the next generation, too. Poynter designs programs for Tampa Bay educators and Pinellas County student journalists, and hosts the Write Field, which provides mentoring and writing instruction for minority middle school young men.

The Poynter newsroom

Poynter’s non-profit newsroom informs our teaching and serves as a leading source of news about the people, organizations, technology, trends and ideas shaping journalism and its vital role in democracy.

We cover the inside stories of news organizations, the public triumphs of Pulitzer Prizes and the equally public gaffes inherent in journalism. We analyze the economics of the news business. We share what’s working in newsrooms and explain how others can learn from it. We write about leadership, ethics, fact-checking, innovation and the craft and values of journalism.

Poynter also houses the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, which is the largest political fact-checking news organization in the United States. PolitiFact has published more than 16,000 fact-checks of politicians and pundits.

Newsletters bring our coverage to your email inbox. You can follow Poynter’s work and be part of the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. With more than 6 million unique visitors in 2016, Poynter.org is an influential and far-reaching source of news for an industry and a public that needs journalism.

Support Poynter

By supporting the Poynter Institute, you fortify journalism’s role in a free society.

In a time of extraordinary news and accelerating transformation of the media industry, Poynter’s role in elevating journalism and the people it serves has never been more critical. Invest in the essential role of responsible journalism in a democracy.

Your contribution to Poynter will:

Teach journalists the vital skills they need in a changing news landscape

Provide e-learning for those who can’t attend Poynter workshops in person or who prefer to learn online